


insomnia

by dasyuridae



Series: drabbles with lower case titles to seem edgy [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 06:56:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14744069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasyuridae/pseuds/dasyuridae
Summary: Some things are harder than others when Lucretia finds herself alone





	insomnia

**Author's Note:**

> so i wrote this in like half an hour while i couldnt sleep (ironic), apologies for any blatant mistakes!

Lucretia hadn’t been able to sleep, just like most nights. Despite her better judgement she found herself taking the corridor down to where Taako, Magnus and Merle slept. Her friends, even if they didn’t know it.

 

 _The fifth cycle. The insomnia that would plague her for over a hundred years had started to set in. Too many what-ifs, too many regrets. She stayed up writing by a flickering light, writing anything she could. The story that Davenport had told her that morning. The stupid thing Lup and Taako had convinced Barry was real. The way the plants on this planet sounded as they grew, the audible creaking that came with their shooting towards the sky. But she needed food, so she made her way to the kitchen, journal tucked underneath her arm. Taako was standing at the bench, stirring something, and as she walked in he looked around._  
_“Yo, Luce.” he said, voice loud in the quiet of the ship._  
_“Hey Taako. Can’t sleep?”_  
_Taako laughed, but it was a cracked laugh, one which splintered at the edges. “Ha. Yeah. Nothing new. You?”_  
_“Me neither. Mind if I sit?”_  
_Taako shook his head and Lucretia grabbed some bread from the cupboard then sat down at the table, spreading her journal. Behind her, the elf kept cooking. He was humming to himself, a tune which was long and slow. She felt like she’d heard it before. Taako’s breathing, his gentle song, the sound of his spoon against the bowl, they made her feel safe and comfortable._  
_When she woke up the next morning, feeling rested for the first time in months, she was lying in her bed, a blanket pulled over her. Her journal was open beside her table and a note was scrawled in Taako’s messy handwriting. ‘You fell asleep. I carried you up here and almost burnt my sauce so you owe Taako big time.’  
Lucretia laughed and stared at the note. It was part of the story, now._

 

She didn’t know what she was planning to say if the three of them were there. They wouldn’t get it, wouldn’t understand why their Director had come to see them at fuck-all in the morning. Maybe she just wanted to see. To see if they slept soundly now. If they still needed each other, needed a reminder that someone was around and alive and would still be when the darkness passed.

 

 _Magnus often apologised for coming to her room late at night. He liked to talk to Fisher, to put his hand against the tank and whisper. Lucretia would laugh and wave him off but really, she liked it. Liked having someone else in the room as she tried to sleep. One night, after a long day, she made her way to where Magnus was sitting down and threw herself down next to him, groaning. In the tank, Fisher flashed at her and put a tentacle up to the glass. She smiled and put her hand on the other side. None of them said anything for a while, Magnus and Lucretia sitting basked in Fisher’s glow. It was a silent moment, broken when Magnus shifted away._  
_“I should go to sleep.” he muttered._  
_“Can you?” replied Lucretia gently._  
_There was a stretch of silence. Fisher hummed gently, bobbing against the side of his tank._  
_"No. None of us can.”_  
_“Lup and Barry can, now. They have each other.”_  
_Magnus smiled and he slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “We all do.”  
__Lucretia fell asleep to Fisher’s tune and the beating of Magnus’ heart._

 

The room where the three lived was quiet and dark. They were asleep then, or in bed. Still not sure how she would explain herself if they saw her she stepped over to a room with a sign declaring loudly whose it was. ‘Casa del Taako! No twerps allowed!’. Lucretia laughed and pushed the door open gently. The light was on inside. The covers on the bed were thrown back and messy. Taako wasn’t there. She stepped back and moved to the next room. It was Magnus’, she could tell as soon as she stepped inside. It was messy and smelled faintly of sweat and armour polish. No Magnus, though.

 

_They never decided that they would sleep in Merle’s room. Thinking logically, it didn’t even make sense, it just happened. One by one, unable to sleep, they would find themselves at Merle’s room, surrounded by the plants and weird trinkets. There would generally be someone else there. Most often Davenport, sometimes Magnus, sometimes any combination of the seven of them. Whoever was there would climb into the bed, curled around each other. Lucretia would plait the hair of someone near her, the repetitive movement and feeling of it calming her down. Sometimes, Merle would tell stories. They never failed to make her laugh, equal measures ridiculous and dramatic and crude. He would make up ridiculous voices for characters and then forget them, so she never knew what was going on. Whenever Taako was there he would interrupt with bad jokes. Magnus would spit out puns, leaving all of them groaning. Those nights never felt real. They felt like they happened somewhere different, somewhere away from everything that happened to them. Someone would fall asleep, leaving everyone else to shush each other. They all knew how important sleep was, how hard to come by nowadays. It wasn’t easy to sleep with a hundred years of regret on your mind. Surrounded by friends, laughing and crying, it became a bit easier._

 

Lucretia pushed open the door to the third and final bedroom. Merle’s room. She felt a jolt of recognition. It was full of plants, full of stupid trinkets. Of course it was. In the corner, on the bed, were Merle, Taako and Magnus, lying tangled together, breathing slowly. Lucretia didn’t know how long she stood there, staring at what was in front of her. So close to that old feeling. Then Magnus stirred, muttering, and she remembered where she was. Not with old friends, not anymore. With her employees. So she left the doorway, and their apartment, and went back to her quarters. Her bedroom, cold and empty and alone. Lucretia curled up in her bed and stared blankly into the darkness. She didn’t sleep that night.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i love to think about how this whole thing would impact lucretia and also just like... the crazy effect of the stolen century on the seven birds in general. come see me at www.chlckenwlngs.tumblr.com if you wanna yell about taz


End file.
